


Educational Learning Experience

by dapperschlapper



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Awkward Romance, Awkward Tension, Blappeture Mesaverse, F/M, Gen, Interns & Internships, Rick and Craig bromance, Slow Burn, humanized!AU, perpetual testing initiative, the slowest of burns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-22 13:39:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16598906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dapperschlapper/pseuds/dapperschlapper
Summary: Seven years ago I started on a fill for the Portal Kink meme, now I'm bored and I'm finishing what I started. Set in a humanized!AU where Curiosity is a university student doing a summer internship with Rick as her mentor. You can tell where this is probably going.





	1. First Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> GOOD GOLLY HELLO MY ASS IS BACK AFTER A SEVEN YEAR LONG HIATUS. 
> 
> But anyway, here's the original prompt from the kink meme:  
> "Because, come on. She'd totally ask him how he got his black belt in the bedroom. And Rick is *always* happy to show a pretty lady his moves *SHOT*  
> Rick. With Curiosity. In the bedroom. Learning how Rick became a black belt in it. Please."
> 
> But yeah I totally hijacked it, made an AU, forgot about this fic, now I'm bored doing my master's in nursing and found my drafts. I guess it's for the better since I started this when I was a senior in high school and now I'm a grad student with some ~life experience~ LOL 
> 
> You can see the older version of the first chapter on FF.net with my old username, Dj Tyf0on. 
> 
> Also if anyone's confused: Blapperture Mesa comes from one of the lines from the Portal 2 level creator DLC, where an alternate universe Cave Johnson buys Black Mesa and shuts down the research that would've caused the Black Mesa Incident. Heyo, no Combine Invasion in this universe!

It was an annual tradition of Cave Johnson to invite what he deemed the brightest and best university students to Aperture Science's laboratories to help conduct research over the summer. It was a win-win situation for all, but mostly for Cave. While his scientists and think tanks acquired eager helping hands for experiments and research, Cave won admiration from the public for being a philanthropist of education, and easily received free workers from the college deans that wanted the publicity of one of their students going to a highly acclaimed, if sometimes controversial, research facility. (And grants. Lots of federal grants. He needed that money.)

In the beginning, Rick didn't think much of her except as another summer intern to help with research. When he saw a manila folder on his desk one morning in June, he internally groaned. There was a small note with Caroline's handwriting attached to it, but he didn't need to read it. He knew that it was the 'Here's an intern I want you to watch over you can take it or leave it but _remember your bonus_ ' note. From previous years, he'd seen his colleagues get the same message from that cheekily manipulative woman. He begrudgingly resigned himself that there was no chance that he would be able to get out of this overly air-conditioned office and travel around the world this summer. He sighed, and flipped through the folder labeled "Madeline".

Madeline Collins was petite, and was acutely aware of how easily she could be ignored - unless she was a stellar student. She always sat in the front row of her classes so she could make sure that her teachers acknowledged her existence, and always had the loudest voice when asking questions to the chagrin of the classmates. Her rather vehement curiosity had led her to be shoved into higher level classes, her former teachers finally unable to answer her questions (and quite possibly, to get rid of her). Starting university courses at the age of 16, she didn't mind that she was doing significantly harder classes then other students her age, or that she had to give up a weekend or two with friends in order to complete a paper or a particularly long chemistry assignment. At the age of 21 she was almost done with her master's in chemical engineering, and was hoping this summer internship would boost her out of state job prospects. When she was living in a state like _Iowa_ , nothing interesting was bound to happen there anytime soon and was looking forward to traveling out of state. She had no idea what she gotten herself into with going into a laboratory deep in the Michigan wilderness, but at least it was a start.

Rick was taken aback when he met his intern for the first time. He almost mistaken Madeline for a co-worker's kid because _shit_ , she practically was one with her height, and had her dirty blonde curls tied into a bushy ponytail at the nape of her neck and wide hazel eyes framed by cherry red glasses. He made an excellent contrast with her, with his dark brown hair slicked back and olive green eyes. With Rick's tall athletic frame towering over hers, he found it a tad humorous when Madeline went to shake his hand. She was babbling on about being excited to help and whatnot, she pretty much seemed like a kid in a candy shop when it came to lab research.

But dear Lord her questions, they _never_ stopped.

For Rick, the fifteen minute walk to the research labs was made even more irritating that it already was because of Maddie (she insisted on being called that) spitting out questions faster than he can answer them. Most of them were easy ones that pertained to the facility, but when it came to the ones that involved a lot of explaining involving theoretical science, his patience was wearing thin. Slap on the fact that Caroline started the internships on a Friday to make employees obligated into working a full shift instead of clocking out early for the weekend, he wasn't in the best of moods as they reached the labs.

Nearing the entrance, he hastily swiped his keycard and quickly pulled her through the door and into a laboratory around the same size as a large dining hall. Maddie took note of how Aperture seemed to have a preference for three colors. Rick and the other researchers were easily identified by their crisp white lab coats, and stood out from the sea of blue in various hues, which was composed of medics and clean-up crews. The test subjects were all wearing identical jumpsuits in that odd, cheerful orange.

She had to quickly jump aside to avoid colliding with a swarm of lab techs sprinting from the entrance to the test chambers carting a slightly damaged device while a occupied gurney followed suit. The poor test subject was in some type of delirium, mumbling about how a dog was peeing on his leg. In actuality, he had a compact fracture in his lower leg, and blood was dripping out at a disturbingly quick pace. The nurses were looking at the test subject with disdain, looking at each other as if to say, "These _idiots_." It was quite an eyeful for her first day.

"That _has_ to suck, don't it?" A deep voice boomed behind her.

Maddie turned around to see Rick and one of his fellow colleagues, a curiously pale man with a pink tie, shake their heads at the sight. He shot her a look of indifference and shrugged.

"It happens a lot here. Get used to it kid."

Maddie was slightly disturbed by how nonchalant Rick was about seeing gruesome injuries. It was as if he was just looking at...modern art statues.

"How often does this happen?" she asked.

"Once a week, maybe twice. Four times if we're lucky. Usually just broken wrists though." She cringed at the other man's disturbingly calm reply.

 "The clumsy ones usually have the more, to put it bluntly, _entertaining_ injuries," Rick added, and he let out a stifled laugh. "And I do love me some explosions. Anyways, feel free to look around for a bit. I gotta talk to Craig here about the molecular stability of this new refracting material..."

Craig scrunched his face in confusion, his eyes narrowing.

"Liar, you never want to talk about-"

Rick oh-so-slightly pushed his new intern to his left, and jerked his head to the right to tell Craig to walk with him, making himself appear thoroughly immersed with his fellow scientist's findings. When they were a safe distance away from the girl, Rick let out an exasperated sigh.

"Christ, it's only been what, an hour in? Craig, she's already a pain in the ass. All of her questioning, jeez...she could be worse than that Brit nurse, who's _already_ a moron in the first place." He rubbed his temples and sighed. "And I have to spend the rest of the day with her?" The brunette groaned. Craig offered no sympathy as rolled his eyes and smirked.

"Correction. Two months and three weeks," he teasingly replied. "If you would like, I could break it down for you further into days, hours-"

"Nope, no thank you. Gimme that report, why don't ya Pinkie..."

Rick hastily ripped the papers from Craig's grip, suddenly finding a new-found appreciation for something as mundane as molecular structures. It would be at least an hour of peace.

Meanwhile, Maddie was mesmerized by the levitating gels in pneumatic glass tubes around the lab. The lights shined on the peculiar substances, giving them a ethereal glow around them. Glancing to see if Rick was still talking to Craig, she scurried closer to one of the tubes, dodging a hurried worker here and there. Finally face to face with one of the odd blobs, she just stood there peering through the glass at the strange substance that glowed like moonlight. Unbeknownst to the girl, her hand had brushed over what seemed to be some little inconspicuous switch.

It's always the little things in life that seem to change everything.

Rick and Craig were just about finished going over where to use the new compound from the report when a lab tech ran towards them, with Maddie trailing behind. She looked frightened to death. The young man handed her over to Rick, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Hey Rick, take care of your intern, will you?" The tech said with a grin. "You might lose your job over her."

Rick was quickly riled up by that last sentence. He stared at his skittish intern with disbelief. He swore he heard a snap a minute or two ago, but if she was involved…

"Why is there a clean-up crew there?" Rick could feel his blood pressure slowly rising with each second.

The lab tech nervously laughed, then sucked in his breath.

"Uh, well you see what happened was...the tube was kind of filled to the brim with gel, and it kind of leaked."

"I see broken glass." Craig was poking his head around the tech's shoulders.

The lab tech couldn't hide it anymore. He sighed and shot Maddie a sheepishly apologetic look, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Fine. The tube exploded."

Rick was not amused as he shot an accusatory glare at Maddie. She tried her damn best to swallow that lump of fear forming in her throat.

"What the hell did you do? One freaking hour-"

Maddie's heart sank. Not even done with orientation, and she'd already screwed things up.

"IswearIdidn'tmeantoIwasjustcuri-"

"She also changed the reactivity of C-G 217." The lab tech butted in.

"WHAT?" Rick and Craig had been keeping a close eye on that experiment, and the due date for presenting any findings was looming near. If they didn't have anything to show, they'd probably lose their lab and be regrouped to assist with another project. There was no way in hell he could restart it and give a decent report.

"Don't worry, it seems that the volume of the gel expanded in the tube, so the gross product increased." He gave an awkward thumbs-up.

"We collected most of it, and we're placing it in a new pressurized chamber. The joy of mixed blessings, huh?"

There was a moment of tense silence between the four of them.

"I'll overlook the rest of the transfer," Craig began, trying to make things less awkward than they already were, "And collect the necessary paperwork for the incident report."

 Rick sighed and quickly ushered Maddie to the exit, nodding to Craig and the lab tech.

"I guess that's fine for now, I'll get a look over it after I give a _little_ talk in my office to this young lady."

It was a brisk walk to his office, but the tension between the two from the made Maddie feel absolutely horrible.

"Um, Rick?"

There was no response. He merely swiped his keycard and motioned for Maddie to enter. She found herself slinking into a chair across from Rick at his desk. What she was about to ask was stupid and absolutely insane. She licked her lips and hoped for the best possible outcome.

"Can I stay during your overtime? I mean, I'd like to help correct my mishap."

Rick noticed he holding in her breath. _Does she really expect something?_ He scoffed and shook his head at her.

"Heh. That's pretty bold of you little lady, considering you may have fucked up something I have worked on for who knows how long now."

He raised an eyebrow at Maddie's blank stare. "What?"

"So is that a yes or a no?" She already felt like she knew the answer, but it didn't hurt to confirm.

"Seriously? Whaddya think?" He grabbed the forms in his in-tray and started to read them, waiting for her to respond. He wondered why she was taking a while for an obvious answer.

"Y-well, no. No sir." Maddie held her head down, silently berating herself.

"Correct. Finally, for once today, you've answered your own question. You're dismissed for the day." Without looking at her, he pointed towards the door.

Maddie stood up and was ready to leave, but not without one last appeal.

"But _why_ can't you let me help?"

Now Rick had enough.

"First, you bombard me with your annoying-ass questions, then destroy my work, and now you're trying to fix your mistakes like all it takes is puttin' a band-aid on it? Shit, you'll probably make everythin' worse."

Rick was irate, and his Southern drawl was rearing its head in his spiel. He got out of his chair and beat Maddie to the door with his long strides. Leaning back on it and crossing his arms across his chest in a pose that reeked of smug superiority, he was going to unleash hell on her.

"You damn overeager grad students are all the fucking same. Always thinkin' they're goin' to be the breakthrough guy. You always, always, _always_ bite off more than you can chew. What you did today was just pure dumb _luck_. Listen up, Iowa Girl. You don't know squat 'bout what we're doin'. Your lil' textbook knowledge can't help you here, a'ight?"

 "Anyways," he continued. "Next week, expect to do a shitload more observing an' holding all ya fuckin' questions 'til the end of the day. Now seriously, GET. OUT."

They stood in a standstill for a solid seven seconds, dull green eyes glaring at trembling golden brown. Letting out a disgusted scoff, Rick walked past her, sat at his desk, and picked up the paperwork that he had to fill out for the damage made. He looked up again to see Maddie back in front of his desk, her hands balled up tightly into fists, biting her lower lip, presumably going over what she had to say.

"What, another question?" She shot him a look of utter hatred that bared her teeth.

"You really are an asshole, aren't you?" She ran out, slamming the door behind her.

The silence that should've been a relief now was a crashing wave of panic as he realized the possible implications of his outburst. 

_Good grief, you'll probably lose this lab from this child's fuck up._

_You fuckin' idiot, you probably scared her off because you couldn't keep your cool.  
_

_Even if she's crazy enough to come back after, is she even willing to work with you?  
_

_...Could Craig just take her instead? Wouldn't be a big deal, right?_

_How are you gonna deal with this shit for the next eleven weeks?  
_

Rick slumped back into his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Aw, _fuck_."

This was going to be one helluva summer.

 


	2. A Mutual Agreement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trying to forget about Friday. 
> 
> A/N: As an actual Michigander, I'm mildly amused that Portal canon has the Aperture facility built in a salt mine in the UP. Most, if not all mines there are actually copper, and the one big salt mine is underneath Detroit.  
> Also this is set in the mid-80s if anyone was wondering. I probably should've mentioned that earlier right?

After the "fucking goddamn tube exploding" that afternoon, Rick went out drinking with Craig (although it was more of Rick complaining about the situation and drinking while Craig just sat next to him awkwardly twiddling his fingers around the rim of his Shirley Temple). Rick slammed his bottle on the table and grunted.

"Shit."

 Craig let out a sigh.

"The one thing I find relieving is that you already know you're an idiot and went too far. Saves me time."

"No, she's a grad student. Should'a known better."

"She's a kid, if we're being honest."

"She's 21. Old enough to know better."

"A precocious grad student. She's been in one place her whole life, and she's been finally given the opportunity to travel and do research in a place where she wants to prove her worth to the scientific community." Craig's voice dropped down, and sounded mildly sinister.

"Doesn't that premise sound familiar?"

Rick's jaw tightened, as he tried his best not to think about who Craig was implying.

"Whatever," he mumbled dismissively. "New week, we can get a kinda-fresh start, n' set the rules." He grinned. "Try not to kill each other."

They sat in silence before Craig cleared his throat.

"Sorry about earlier, that was low."

"I said _whatever_." He asked the bartender for one more beer and his tab.

"Can't change the past anyways."

 

In an apartment a few miles from the facility, Maddie had her own night of drinking with some of the other interns that were in the summer program. She and her roommate found out two other interns were living in an apartment down the hall from them, and invited the two of them over to talk about their first day in their respective internships.

Maddie recently turned 21 back in April and was the least knowledgeable when it came to alcoholic beverages, but knew how to make a good pasta salad. Cooking also was a decent stress reliever from the day's event's and she entertained the idea that the knife currently dicing cucumbers and carrots was actually Rick.

Her roommate Hettie was helping out the programming division, and was the one who arranged the little get-together in their apartment. Being the daughter of a bona fide Southern belle she was skilled in entertaining, and provided a chocolate sheet cake to go with the white zifandel she'd chosen for the night's activities.

Francis, a redhead with a temper to match, was assisting with the newly-formed biomedical division with researching human augmentation and prosthetics. He brought cheap beer, a large pepperoni pizza, and a bag of chips he bought from the nearby party store.

"Oh, bless your heart." Hettie cheerfully said in her Southern twang, trying her best not to reprimand Francis for his rather juvenile taste. "Where's Connie?"

"Taking her sweet-ass time at the grocery store still," Francis mumbled, dropping off his food and drinks at the living room's coffee table. "Whatever she's making, it better be good."

Connie was studying to be a research clinical psychologist, and was assisting with studying and developing motivation tactics for testers. Due to her androgynous name she accidentally ended up being assigned a room with Francis, but didn't really mind the living arrangements as both kept to themselves. She arrived a half-hour after Francis, but brought a jug full of a dangerously bright red liquid she only referred to as "Juice", along with a box of antacids, a carton of eggs, a small package of bacon, and a loaf of bread.

Maddie looked up from her vegetable chopping and eyed Connie's grocery bag, confused.

"Breakfast?"

"For tomorrow actually," Connie replied as she barged into their kitchen started placing her groceries into the apartment's fridge without asking. "If you don't know your limits, Juice will have no mercy."

Francis opened the lid of the jug Connie left in the living room and took a sniff.

"This isn't some weird Asian shit is it?"

"No, just canned pineapple chunks, orange juice, cranberry juice, pink lemonade, Everclear, vodka, and some cheap rum I found." She stared at them and shrugged. "Just something I learned from friends from the Bay."

Hettie looked shocked, and Francis let out a low whistle.

"Trying to kill us on our first day? Holy shit woman, let me contribute something to the Biomed lab first!"

"Honestly, I'm pretty sure my mentor already wants to kill me after today." Maddie walked into the room with her bowl of pasta salad and set it down, along with some bowls and forks. "Pretty sure I had the worst start out of anyone here."

Over their rather eclectic dinner spread, Maddie recounted the event of her disastrous first day to the group, and although she would blame the alcohol for it, ended up in tears. Hettie was sympathetically rubbing Maddie's back, Francis was trying his best not to laugh, and Connie urged her to drink a glass of Juice to "calm down".

"Sweetie, don't be too hard on yourself." Hettie glared at Francis to try and cut down his sniggering. "Sounds like he's under a lot of stress and took it out on you."

"Inappropriate, however. Kind of a dick move," Connie added, her hand folded neatly under her chin. Two glasses deep into Juice and she didn't seem to have been affected at all.

"Get yourself together though, if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen, right?" Francis had left the table to find their bathroom, and returned with a toilet paper roll. "Go and blow your nose, you're grossing me out."

"Um, thanks guys," Maddie sniffed. "I didn't really expect you to be that nice about it." She blew her nose while Hettie glared at the ginger.

"What? Couldn't find a tissue box anywhere."

"We've all done silly things before, and pretty sure we've been chewed out just as many times," Hettie said reassuringly, switching her focus back to Maddie. "Just take the weekend to relax as much as possible, and try to go into next with with positive thoughts, alright?"

"Alternatively, just walk into you lab Monday ready to beat his ass," Francis mimed pummeling someone into the ground. "Would be hilarious."

Maddie managed a giggle a little bit from that, and continued to have a pleasant night with her newfound friends. They agreed to try and have dinner together once or twice a week, and they all ended up dragging Francis back, blacked out from too much Juice.

 

On Monday Maddie came back into the lab, and to Rick's relief, appeared seemingly unfazed by Friday's encounter. She took the pep talk from the weekend to heart, and was hoping that today would be a fresh start for both of them. She also hoped that wasn't asking for much.

They stared at each other apprehensively, the air thick with tension. After a few moments of silently regarding each other Rick gave her a curt nod, and motioned for her to sit across him at his desk. He picked up her folder and flipped through it quickly. Maddie let out a quiet exhale of relief that Hettie's tips were working.

"Fluid dynamics?" He was blunt and to the point.

"Yes. Program specializes in hydraulics. Undergrad research in compound synthesis. So what do you want me doing here now, if you won't let me work on fixing my accident?" Maddie didn't want to bullshit around either.

"Get oriented to the lab with Craig. Your bench is across from his. Very easy to find; you've met him Friday, and also he's the resident ghost." He stood up and started walking towards him, and Maddie followed. Craig was currently sitting and reading the latest chemistry journal, and looked up expectantly at the pair.

"M'thinkin' mornings with him, go to lunch, finish your afternoons with me. Pinkie arrives and leaves early, so that's about 4 hours with each of us." Craig nodded in agreement at the arrangement.

"Sounds reasonable enough." She set her backpack on the floor near her new workspace.

"If you don't fuck anything up, I'll let you work with me more. Sound good, Corncob?"

_Corncob. Did she hear that right?_

"What?" She did a double take at the name. Rick raised an eyebrow, a slight smirk on his face before he turned on his heel to get to his bench.

"Your new nickname. 'Iowa Girl' has too many syllables for me to care about," he called out from over his shoulder.

She slumped down at her new bench with a huff and clasped her hands together on her lap, confused on how she should feel. Craig swiveled around on his seat with a bemused smile on his face.

"Don't fret about the nickname. Mine's is Pinkie, but it's rather thoughtful that at least he noticed the distinction between pale blondes and albinos."

Maddie narrowed her eyes at Craig. "Was that supposed to make me feel better?" He shrugged.

"Marginally. He put a bit of effort into a nickname. It's a semi-decent start."

Maddie sighed.

"I've been working with Rick for a while now, and I'm still here. Even had a cake to celebrate our first year of running a lab together and not end up killing each other. _Yet_. I'm just trying to tell you you'll be okay."

"Thanks, I guess, sir." Craig snorted.

"Just Craig will do, Maddie. Don't make me feel as old as that blow-hard."

She let herself laugh a little with him. Odd man, but she was glad to have an ally in this lab. She couldn't help but look at his irises that indeed weren't pink, but in fact more of a ghostly silver-blue. They were pretty, in an odd sort of way. Craig caught her staring, and gave her a quizzical look. She felt her cheeks turn red.

"Can I ask, your condition-"

"Recessive for both parents. Only one in the family," Craig quickly replied with a hint of a smile, running a hand through his messy quiff. "Luckily my partner doesn't mind, she's a bit of a night person anyway. No need for gallivanting in the sun with her." Her then handed her a stack of manuals. "Now, shall we begin?"

The morning passed quickly with Craig, as he was assessing her proficiency with all of the tools their compound lab had. The skills check off completed with flying colors, they started on working on compound analysis for a new gel that finished synthesizing over the weekend.

After lunch Craig took his leave, wishing Maddie good luck with her afternoon.

"Try not to kill him, alright?"

She gave him a reassuring smile. "Promise I won't."

Maddie walked towards Rick's bench with a small spring in her step. Establishing a good rapport with Craig seemed like a good start, so the positive-thoughts seemed to be working, right? Rick was currently in the middle of calculations, and she mentally braced herself for whatever was about to come.

Rick held up a finger before she could even say a word.

"I forgot one more thing about working with me. For all your question askin' driving me insane Friday, five-finger rule."

"What do you mean by that?" Maddie asked, insulted that she was being treated as a child.

"Y'heard me. Five question limit every day, unless it's an emergency. Y'got that?"

Maddie's eyes were wide in disbelief.

"Wait, are you kidding me?"

"No, and down to four."

Maddie regretted her promise to Craig, and gritted her teeth.

"Yeah, got it."

 "Good. Come here and take a look at this," Rick handed Maddie a lab book opened to a dog-eared page. "I need about 450 grams of that. Think you can make it?"

She stared at his neatly handwritten notes for the compound. Despite his attitude she did have to admire the preciseness of his work, and how much detail he went into reporting trials.

"Yeah, I can do that." She walked towards the supply cabinet, grabbed what she needed, and started to work under the hood nearby. Measuring and mixing chemicals was mundane work, but the need to be accurate in he measurements gave her something else to focus on besides her outrage at his stupid rule.

They worked in silence for most of the hour before Rick let out a long sigh. He was losing focus over these calculations, mostly from being preoccupied from thoughts of their rather unpleasant exchange last Friday. He knew he shouldn't let that day predetermine all of the interactions over the course of this internship, so he decided to make amends.

"That was a shitty joke, the five-question thing is all bullshit." He turned to look at his intern and grinned sheepishly.

Maddie was neither impressed nor humored by his admission, and didn't look away from her work as she responded.

"You don't say?" Her voice was clipped, and body language rigid.

Rick walked over to the hood where she was working and leaned on one of the external metal panels, taking a deep breath.

"I know, I know, I'm the asshole. But, I'm giving you a free pass to go all out on me. Just scream it all out, get all of it out of the way so the rest of this internship runs smoothly m'kay?"

Maddie stopped her work to consider this proposition and stared at him, face unchanging.

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

Maddie's eyes narrowed.

"This isn't a way to get me kicked from the program?"

Rick frowned. "What gave you that idea?"

Maddie shrugged. "Never hurts to ask."

"Nope. You have all the power to chew me out for last Friday now. Dont be lyin' that you've been holding out, _Corncob_."

Rick tacked on that 'Corncob' to see how she'd react, and the response was nearly instantaneous.

"You're rude. Also kind of condescending? You're definitely a grade A asshole though, and a jerk." Maddie quickly spat out, and took a moment to recollect her thoughts. "And a blow-hard." She then promptly returned back to her work.

 Rick chuckled at her stream of insults.

"Oh, Craig's already rubbin' off on ya?"

 Maddie didn't even look up from her work to acknowledge him.

"Why couldn't Craig be my mentor instead of you?"

Rick's sudden outburst of laughter startled her.

"Shit, that stung a bit."

"Good, I hoped it did." She was placing filled and paraffin-wrapped beakers onto a storage tray. "Are you still going to keep on calling me 'Corncob'?"

He took the tray from her and started walking towards the lab's cold-storage area for safe-keeping. "Not unless you can come up with a better nickname _._ "'

"And if I do?"

"Still call you Corncob."

"It's kind of growing on me, if I'm being honest," Maddie finally admitted, as she was putting back her goggles and throwing away her gloves. "Compared to other nicknames I've been given in the past, yours does have the most originality."

"Excellent, glad t'know I've done somethin' right today."

Rick shot his intern a playful grin as she rolled her eyes and gave him the smallest of smiles back.He had felt they had reached a decent truce, and he was willing to take what he can get. He passed her some supplies for her to calculate her estimated  yields for her compound's tests tomorrow.

"Now enough chit-chat, let's get to work."


End file.
